In the Background
by SociallyInept
Summary: While Harry, Ron, and Hermione are out publicly saving the world, what are others doing in the war? On hiatus due to 7th book release.
1. Ginny and Neville

Hi again! These are a series of stories I've been writing in my General Psyche class (not an assignment, I just get bored often). They're not directly related to each other, but all follow a central theme: while Harry, Ron, and Hermione are out doing the public world-saving, what is everybody else doing?

A few general assumptions: Hogwarts is open, the war is coming to a climax, muggles are getting a little too suspicious, the Ministry is trying to instil rigid rules and the Aurors don't really care what the Ministry wants anymore, and the Death Eaters are beginning to weed the unloyal out out of confidence in their imminent success. All belongs to Rowling, and this disclaimer sentence applies to all chapters.

* * *

Ginny slowly closed her eyes and rubbed them wearily, trying to ease the strain. The candle had flickered out over an hour ago, so the moonlight filtered through some of the stain glass windows was her only source of light. According to her watch, it had been five hours since curfew began- which meant it was nearing two in the morning. Instead of being in her soft warmed bed like her dormmates, however, she and Neville Longbottom were in the Hogwarts library, researching. They had been doing this for most of the school year, acting awake and coherent during the day and researching and owling what they find to a location Harry had access to at night. Neither of them had had more than six hours of sleep in months. At first it had been excruciating; now they were just used to it.

For the past several weeks they'd been trying to find anything on horcruxes, more specifically where some might be located.

"Harry said there wouldn't be any books on horcruxes, and we've been through all the books in the dark arts section and in the forbidden areas, so why are we still doing this? Finals are tomorrow." Neville glanced at his own watch. "Today."

"I already said why. We don't need to know about horcruxes, just whether or not there would be one related to the school, or in it somewhere, or on it, or something else."

"I got that part," Neville said, "But why couldn't we do this during the day?"

Ginny ignored him. They'd been over all of this to the point it had become habit. During the day there would be rules, witnesses, Madame Pince. At night, they could do anything. It was only them, the books, and Hogwarts' hidden secrets.

She dragged a thick dusty book over to her, recognizing it as _Hogwarts: A History_. They'd already been through this one, but it was a thick book, and she'd only skimmed it the time before. Maybe this time she'd find something.

Recognizing the emotion as hope, she tried to dismiss it as Neville began cleaning up their candy wrappers and reshelving the books on the table. She couldn't. The hope was already rooted in her, seeming out of place in the dreary nightlit library.

Walking back over and leaning against the table, Neville asked if she was done yet. They'd split the stacks and he'd finished first while she'd taken an unscheduled nap.

Ginny tried to focus on the text of the index, but couldn't focus her overworked eyes. She rubbed them again.

"I suppose so. We've done enough for tonight anyway. Haryy'll be okay until tomorrow night. You know, I'm getting so tired of this."

"Tired of what?" Neville asked as they finished cleaning up and headed towards the library doors quietly.

"All of this. Not being able to sleep even when I want to. Not knowing if my best friends and boyfriend are even alive, let alone healthy. Wondering who's going to die next and how close to me they'll be. I'm sick of this war. And on top of all of this," she said quietly as they rode the rotating staircase around to the seventh floor, "I hate being on the sidelines. I don't feel like I'm doing anything, just reading."

They were forced into silence as a patrolling ghost floated by, and remained that way for safety until they'd gotten into the Gryffindor common room.

"Ginny?" Neville said abruptly, pausing at the foot of the stairs to his room. Ginny did likewise at hers.

"Hm?" she asked.

"I'm tired too," he looked around awkwardly, as if a thousand ears could hear him. "But it helps that even if it's not a big one, we are making a difference. I think."

Ginny smiled sadly. "Good night, Neville."

He returned her sad smile. "Good night, Ginny."

They went to bed for a few hours, sleeping uneasily, as they had for months and would continue to for the foreseeable future. When they dreamed, bad things happened. But when they were awake they could hope, and just do what they could to help. Hopefully it would be enough.


	2. Tonks and Draco

The second independent story in the series, featuring Tonks in action and a repentant scared Draco Malfoy

* * *

"Brr," Tonks shivered, and pulled her fleece coat closer to her body to trap in what little heat there was. For lack of anything else to do, she shifted through the cans in the shopping cart beside her, muttering to herself for good measure when a couple walked by. Their pace quickened; she was a convincing act. Her usually pink spiky hair was a straggly grey frizz, and her pale complexion was a windburnt marred red. She'd traded her Auror robes for various heat-retaining muggle clothes items, and the only signs that she was anything but a vagrant was a stick in her cart of cans and a small magical earpiece-like device in her ear used by the Ministry and created by the twins.

"Do you have a visual?" A voice in her ear, Auror Blackheart, said softly through the device in her ear. She looked around as erratically as she could even though the answer was obvious.

"Nobody's here but me," she muttered. What she said was being recorded, and she was supposed to be as professional as possible, "and I'm really bored."

"Make a pyramid with your cans," Blackheart suggested, also sticking rigidly to protocol. Another Auror in a different location chuckled. She was always the decoy because of her metamorphmagusing abilities, and the other Aurors went out of their way to bother her about it.

After several minutes of silence, a young man with his hands in his coat pockets sauntered down the ally, studying and dismissing her in a glance. Though casual, he couldn't hide his anxiety in his body language as he made a near beeline towards the door to Tonks' right. The wind gusted suddenly and blew his hat off, revealing white-blonde hair. The boy gasped slightly and grabbed for the hat, missing. He watched it float away for a minute, then turned the doorknob and went inside. A breath of warm air caressed Tonks for a minute as she heard a clinking sound. Looking down, she saw some muggle coins in the slush that hadn't been there before. He'd given her some change.

What kind of pureblood boy Death Eater gives a homeless muggle money?

"He went inside," she said to blackheart, her expression darkening as she stood up stiffly and retrieved her wand from the cart, getting into position and waiting for her cue.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, sound arose from within and the back door flew open. The blonde hair showed who it was, and Tonks shouted the leg-binding spell. The boy fell to the ground and Tonks pinned him with her body so he couldn't crawl away.

"Got 'im!" She shouted, full of adrenaline, and tossed his wand out of reach. He didn't struggle, but lay there as she cuffed him. Blackheart and another Auror took him away to the Ministry, and after routine cleanup and morphing back into her customary Tonks look, she followed. By the time she'd found the interrogation room they were in, the interrogation had started.

Blackheart turned when she opened the door, frowning. The boy's blue eyes widened for a second.

"He's not saying anything," she was informed, and was ushered to a seat at the table across from the young Death Eater while Blackheart rose and stood back by the door, signaling for her to bargain.

"Try deals. No one gives freely for nothing. Look at him, he's terrified." She said blandly, then turned towards the feminine-looking blonde.

"Draco," she said softly, "I'm willing to bargain with you. I'll get you the best protection I can find in exchange for your help for the Ministry. Do you know why I would do this for you, given your situation?"

He shook his head slowly, eyes never leaving her face.

"You did something nice for an old hag," she gently put the coins he'd left for her on the table, the metallic sound of contact loud in the room.

"It- she was you," he said softly. "How could I miss that?"

"I'm an old hand at this and you weren't expecting it. Word of advice- if you're going to be sneaky, don't take the back door. Anyway. Let us help you. Ministry protection can be a powerful thing."

"What do you get out of this?" he asked suspiciously, leaning forward in his hard chair.

"Information," Tonks said bluntly. She knew Draco Malfoy. He was family- closely related family, at that- and half-Black, like her. They were cousins. Even though people could change, much like Draco seemed to have in the past several months, some basic traits remained. The need for preservation, for one.

"Like a spy? I can't go back. Not now," he tensed, fully aware of how bad an actor he was. It was a family trait, poor acting.

"No. Like an informant. All you have to do is talk." Tonks countered. "You'll have somewhere safe to stay, a new chance at life. A second chance, which is more than the other Death Eaters will get. Draco, you're not like them. You can't kill. Bully, harass, demean, mock, yes. Kill? It's not in you, and when Voldemort figures that out you're a dead man walking."

"I already am!" he said hotly. "I'm alone, and trying to hide, I'm scared, and I'm beginning to get the feeling that I won't live to see the end of the war at the rate things are going!"

He took a breath but held it at the last minute, and studied the table, deep in thought.

"All you want is what I know?" he asked softly, "And in return I get a second chance?"

Tonks nodded absently as she noticed that they were alone. She'd been the only one to hear his outburst, and that bothered her. "Names, events, people, locations, things like that."

Blackheart opened the door and entered, followed by Kingsley and Bill Savage, two of the top Aurors in the Ministry. Both Tonks and Malfoy looked at them, surprised.

"Er," Tonks cleared her throat, which was increasingly getting sorer. "Draco, this is Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt and Auror Bill Savage. Kingsley, Bill, this is Draco Malfoy."

Kingsley wasted no time. "Blackheart informed me of the situation. How does Tonks' offer sound?" he said genially.

"What about my family?" Draco asked, looking over at Tonks as though she had all the answers.

"Your father, once captured, will be sent back to Azkaban. It's what he deserves. You, however, haven't done anything horrible yet or we would know about it, so you get off easy if you help us. If not, it's jail. Or as you said a few minutes ago, you're hunted down and killed." Tonks said.

Draco paused, then nodded slowly.

I think I'll take your second chance," he said steadily, and began talking.


End file.
